EUROPEAN championship fever has gripped members of the Irish team ahead of the Seville tests next month.

Some members of the team are so eager that they have told the IASA they would prefer to use their Government grants to arrange their own pre- championship training abroad. The IASA have agreed.

Preliminary plans had already been put in place by the IASA for the usual training camp for the full squad.

Reacting to the swimmers' wishes, the association secretary Celia Millane said: "The IASA agreed to this although preliminary plans had been made, last September for a special training camp prior to the championships."

Ireland will be sending one of its strongest sides ever to the championships, although Michelle Smith has not yet decided whether to compete in Seville. She continues in full-time training, but will wait a little longer before finalising her plans.

Meanwhile, the team chosen to compete in the Junior European Championships in Glasgow at the end of this month are currently taking advantage of the two-week camp arranged by the IASA in Malta.

The squad will doubtlessly be encouraged by the good championship results that followed a similar camp last year. The juniors face concentrated competition on their return. Difficult decisions to forgo certain events are inevitable with the European Youths Olympics coming on either side of the Irish Open championships on July 22nd-26th

The British Age Group championships in Coventry are clear of the packed schedule (August 4th-9th).

The Division One Age Group Championships are fixed for the Aer Lingus pool in north Co Dublin over four days (July 10th-13th).

A huge entry compares favourably with the Division II competition in which all events had to hi decided on a heat/declared winners basis to avoid lengths sessions.

It may be necessary to apply the same principle to the Aer Lingus tests.